Gus Malzahn to be on sidelines for GoDaddy.com Bowl

MOBILE, Alabama -- New Arkansas State head coach Gus Malzahn, the former Offensive coordinator at Auburn, said Wednesday during the press conference announcing his hiring that he intends to be in Mobile for the Red Wolves' appearance in the GoDaddy.com Bowl on Jan. 8 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn calls in a play in the second quarter of the BCS National Championship game at the University of Phoenix Stadium on Monday, January 10, 2011, in Glendale, AZ. Malzahn, the new Arkansas State head coach, said he plans on attending the 2012 GoDaddy.com Bowl game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.(The Birmingham News/ Hal Yeager)

Malzahn confirmed that he will finish his duties as the offensive coordinator at Auburn by calling plays for the Tigers in their Chick-fil-A Bowl appearance against Virginia. Immediately after that, he said, he will begin recruiting for the Red Wolves and he will attend the activities -- and be on the sidelines -- for Arkansas State's GoDaddy.com Bowl game against Northern Illinois.

"I just feel like that's the right thing to do as far as the players,'' Malzahn said of calling plays for Auburn in its bowl game. "But at the same time, immediately we're going to get on the road, on the phone recruiting. And it will not do anything to deter what we're doing here.

"I feel like that's the right thing to do (coaching for Auburn). ... I really have not gotten any farther as to what my role will be with the bowl game in Mobile. I'll kind of take a couple of days to sit back. But I will be on the sidelines as far as there watching and I will be with the whole bowl experience there in Mobile.''

David Gunn was named interim head coach at ASU when Hugh Freeze, who led the Red Wolves to a 10-2 overall record, left after one season to become head coach at Ole Miss. The Red Wolves were 8-0 in Sun belt Conference play and won the league crown outright in Freeze's only season leading the program.

Malzahn will determine his role with the team and its time in Mobile in the coming days.

Regardless of his role at the GoDaddy.com Bowl, it will mark Malzahn's second association with the game. He was the offensive coordinator for Tulsa in the 2009 game, arriving in Mobile shortly after he had accepted the same job with Auburn and then-new head coach Gene Chizik. In his second season with the program, Auburn won the 2010 BCS national championship with an undefeated 14-0 season.